My Papa's Waltz Syntax

697 Words2 Pages

While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke has spurred passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery and syntax of the poem clearly support the interpretation that Roethke writes “My Papa’s Waltz” to have mixed complexed opinions within the reader's inner soul for which many think the poem was about a young child getting abused by his dad but it comes to find out that it was an uplifting poem of a dad who drank that night and was play fighting with his son.
The writer used many conflict words like death, beat, and rust. Made and fooled into thinking it was abuse. I think Roethke did it on purpose to kill 2 birds with one stone, he wrote a poem that can be read as abuse and sad or happy and uplifting. After all, it was an inspiring and an eye-opening poem. The ways he used his words were two sided and seen in 2 ways that are completely opposite. For example in line 3 and 4 it says “but I hung on like death, such waltzing was not easy.” as the words hung on like death can throw you off as it being abuse but in lines 11 and 12 it says “at every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle.” Could potentially mean that the child was, …show more content…

Roethke uses it to convey the image of a playful scene of him and his father.For example, in stanza 1 upon reading these touching words it becomes profoundly difficult to understand the conflict within the author's feelings or emotions. “But I hung on like death: such waltzing was not easy,” could make the reader believe this is actually abuse by the negative context of the words hung on like death. That can cause the reader to believe that the poor kid is hanging on trying not to die when actually they are waltzing and he's grabbing onto his shirt trying not to fall. As this mixed conflict is being taken in different ways, it's on how you see the imagery and how you choose to take the words

Show More
Related

  • “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    The most notable qualities of Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” are the tone and language of the poem which convey the nostalgia adult author feels thinking about the time spent with his father. In the title narrator’s father is affectionately referred to as “Papa” making the impression that the main character and his father are close. The use of possessive pronoun “my” contributes to the overall impression that the father holds special place in the narrator’s heart. As word “waltz” in the title implies the poem gives account of the festive occasion in which the narrator’s father takes part.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The major themes of the poem reflect the poet's own inner life and his struggle with the loss of his father. Through this complicated and intricate poem the inner feelings of the poet are made manifest through the speaker's tone towards the father. The exchange between father and son represents a magical moment in the speaker's childhood: dancing the waltz with his father. In the second stanza, the poet comments “My mother's countenance / could not unfrown itself (Roethke 7-8).” Here the poet seems to regret the fact that he hoarded his father's time after a long day at work, when his father could have been s...

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is obvious this is an evening ritual, one that is cherished. The boy is aware of his fathers’ waltzing abilities and he concedes that he is up for the challenge. The irony of the statement, “I hung on like death” (Roethke line 3) is a private one, yet deeply describes his yearning for one more waltz with his father who passed away when Theodore was only fifteen years

    Read More

  • Abusive Relationship In My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    He was being abused as a child and did not know what to do to stop it. Even though his father was very drunk, he still tried to hold on and dance with him, so that he would not be abused. Roethke, being a small child, was very vulnerable and unable to protect himself. The only person who could protect him from a drunk, abusive father was his mother. She, however, was also being abused and was scared to do anything in fear of being beat again. Why is Roethke being so vague? He is still afraid to speak out the truth openly because of what has already happened. He has become brainwashed to believe that if he ever does speak out, his father will beat him again. This is why he has wrote the poem in a way to make us believe that he was just having a good time with his father, who was slightly drunk, but also showing that it was a scary time for

    Read More

  • Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz and Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abuse is a difficult and sensitive subject that can have long lasting effects. These traumatic emotional effects are often intensified if the abuse happens at a young age because children do not understand why the abuse is happening or how to deal with it. There are many abuse programs set up to counter the severe effects which abuse can have. Even more, poets and writers all over the world contribute works that express the saddening events and force the public to realize it is much more real than the informative articles we read about. One such poem is Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz which looks carefully through the eyes of a young boy into the household of an abusive father. Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays is a similar poem from the perspective of a young adult reflecting back on the childhood relationship with his father and the abuse his father inflicted. These poems are important because they deal with the complex issues surrounding the subject of abuse and also show the different ways which children react to it. My Papa’s Waltz and Those Winter Sundays are similar poems because they use tone, imagery, and sounds and rhythms to create tension between the negative aspects of abuse and the boys own love and understanding for their father.

    Read More

  • Theodore Roethke's Relationship With His Father

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    These near rhymes reinforce the idea that Roethke is only barely in control of himself and the poem, but the strongly rhyming last couplet of each stanza pulls the poem and the reader away from formlessness. As a final seal on the idea that to endure this kind of psychic torment is to break through into a new kind of reality, the last two lines of the poem, the ones which in each stanza had borne a strong rhyme, themselves yield to near rhyme (“mind” and “wind”). It is as if the poet is telling his readers that they thought they had his poem figured out, but that they do not. To experience fully the reality that the poet is describing, it is necessary to see things in a totally new

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz Analysis Essay

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today, people tend to believe that hitting a person is abuse. Although, many people can connect with ¨My Papaś Waltz¨ by Theodore Roethke, the intended audience is himself illustrating a past memory of his childhood. The controversy of the poem is whether itś a good or bad memory. While the subject of “My Papa’s Waltz” has spurred a passionate academic debate from professors, scholars, and students alike, the imagery, syntax, and diction of the poem clearly supports the interpretation that Theodore Roethke wrote “My Papa’s Waltz” to illustrate on a past memory of his drunk and abusive father.

    Read More

  • Love And Fear In My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first line in the poem introduces the fact that the father has been drinking whiskey. Now, most of us know that people have different reactions to alcohol. Some people are funny and like to have a good time, others become pretty mean. Which category the father falls in is hotly debated, however, most agree that the father’s drinking is the catalyst for the events in the rest of the poem be it waltzing or beating. Then comes the line, “But I hung on like death.” This is an incredibly powerful simile. Death has a negative connotation and adds a darkness to the piece as well as creating some very strong and powerful imagery. Also in the vein of imagery, the description of the father’s hands as “battered on one knuckle,” and “palm caked hard by dirt,” are very descriptive. His hands’ knuckles could be battered (which is an intense word that usually indicates some type of violence) from hitting and abusing the boy, or, in tandem with his hands being caked with dirt, just shows that his father is a hard

    Read More

  • Relations And Themes In 'My Papa's Waltz'

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    Using a strand of harsh words including “beat,” “scraped,” “battered,” and “whiskey,” the narrator suggests an idea of a harsh relationship despite any fond memories that were discussed. If the narrator simply intended to reflect a warm commemoration, he could have used a strand of words that implied happiness or comfort. The author was clearly aware that at first glance, readers typically assume the poem is about an abusive relationship; nevertheless, he neglected to alter his poem, demonstrating the idea that negative memories of the father do exist.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of My Papa's Waltz

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    While one reading of My Papa’s Waltz creates visions of a warm home and a cheerful family, a deeper reading creates a story of fear, abuse, and the effects of alcoholism. Roethke’s poem sends an important message about abuse. Victims of abuse often hide behind a happy, healthy visage, although the signs of abuse are glaring. My Papa’s Waltz shows how easy it is for victims of abuse to hide the truth of the horrors they face. Therefore, the poem sends the message that it is always important to keep a vigilant watch for the signs of abuse, for even the happiest tales can have darker

    Read More

  • Roethkes Use of Tone

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    " Certainly, this small boy's family life has its frightening side, but the last line suggests the boy is still clinging to his father with persistent if also complicated love" (Kennedy and Gioia 668). Although their dance appears to be "comic", Roethke seems to possess "an odd and ambivalent closeness" to his apparently intoxicated father (Balakian 62). Still, even more evidence of these mixed feelings is illustrated in the third stanza. "This love dance, a kind of blood rite between father and son, shows suppressed terror combined with awe-inspired dependency" (Balakian 62).

    Read More

  • What I Am Writing: Portraying the Life Through the Works

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...y are required to be close to need to hold on to each other throughout the steps of the dance. The father was most likely happy and overjoyed to be home with his son and decided to romp/ dance with the child. The liquor could have been a partner to the decision to waltz. Never at any time does Roethke infer or say that the child was scared or showed fear, this is a major factor. Also the child never tries to get out of his fathers grasp. Roethke father could have been this guy of father and caused this memory to surface in his memory. This may have been one of his fathers’ ways of showing affection. The poem is filled with energy and emotion. There is a caution, odd and ambivalent closeness to his drunken papa that Roethke feels in the poem but may never literally say. This is mainly just a reflection that he explains thought very descriptive and seesaw like wording.

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz Syntax

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    In lines thirteen and fourteen, the author states, “You beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by dirt.” This tells us that his dad was very hardworking and works as much as he can to support his family. Normally, working in a greenhouse would get you dirty because there are plants everywhere. Roethke uses syntax by adding rhyme schemes to the poem. This caused people to think different and ignore the bone-chilling words like “death” and “battered.” In conclusion, the dad’s palm was caked by dirt since he worked in a

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the late nineteen forties, Theodore Roethke emerged with a poem that has been the source of much debate. "My Papa's Waltz," is an account of a relationship between son and father. Alas, many readers who are exposed to this piece fail to note the love present in the connection of the characters. In an attempt to illuminate the author's true intention several factors must be examined. After several examinations of Roethke's poem as well as learning of his childhood it is evident that this poem does not suggest an abusive environment, but is an appreciative account of the love and playfulness between the characters. Therefore, a successful interpretation of this poem will look beyond the four stanzas and study not only the history of the writing, but the life of the poet.

    Read More

  • Relationships In My Papa's Waltz And Daddy

    543 Words  | 2 Pages

    Roethke uses imagery and diction that makes the reader feel different emotions. The imagery of a father with whiskey on his breath and battered knuckles paints a picture of a scruffy, rugged man. On the other hand, the diction and imagery of “waltzing” in line 4 creates a soft and sweet image of a father and child dancing. The image of “My right ear scraped a buckle / You beat

    Read More

More about My Papa's Waltz Syntax

Open Document